The online banking payment method iDEAL is currently the most popular means of payment for e-commerce in the Netherlands - taking about 80% of all online business with the remainder being on credit cards for the higher value items and when customers want the insurance cover. iDEAL is a standardised payment method for making secure online payments directly between bank accounts. The one connection to iDEAL provide each web store's visitor with direct access to online banking of ABN AMRO, ASN Bank, Friesland Bank, ING, Rabobank, RegioBank, SNS Bank, Triodos Bank or Van Lanschot Bankiers to make payments in this way.

When customers click the iDEAL payment option they are redirected from the merchant's webstore to the online banking window of their bank, right after selecting it. After successfully logging on to their respective account using account number and PIN, all relevant purchase data is uploaded from the shopping cart to the bank's electronic payment system. Now all the buyer needs to do is authorize the transaction.

This procedure saves customers the time-consuming and error-prone filling in of electronic payment forms and speeds up the transaction. It is not possible to cancel any payments made using iDEAL so the merchant can dispatch the goods or service with no worries. Another attraction of the service is that customers don't need a payment card to buy online.